What book are you currently reading?

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Woody
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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#401 Post by Woody » Sun Apr 03, 2022 8:34 pm

‘THE LAIRD OF LOURENSFORD’ 🍷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
I always enjoy visiting the beautiful Lourensford Estate in Somerset West, Western Cape as its story is featured in my book ‘Empire, War and Cricket’. Once owned by Sir James Sivewright, a close friend and business associate of James Logan, Lourensford like Matjiesfontein was put on the map by these entrepreneurial Scotsmen! Lourensford Estate has an impressive history. It was once part of neighbouring Vergelegen, which was established by Willem Adriaan van der Stel in 1709. However it was the publicity generated by these colourful Victorian entrepreneurs which made the estate a household name in these parts.
Having made vast sums from both diamonds and gold in both Kimberley and Johannesburg, James Sivewright married Miss Jennie Page, a daughter of a Free State trader and in the 1880s bought into the opulent lifestyle of the Cape bourgeoisie. Unlike Logan, who had created his own domain at Matjiesfontein, Sivewright purchased one of the finest established estates in the Western Province for the unheard-of price of £24,000. He was well-aware that Lourensford had a history dating back to the days of the Dutch East India Company and was the past dwelling of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel (Governor of the Cape of Good Hope (1699-1707). The Sivewrights became the talk of the Colony as they set up house in regal state and held exuberant, lavish functions; “Lady Sivewright [being] one of the most successful hostesses in the Colony.” E. Rosenthal, Other Men’s Millions, [1953], p.102. Like Logan at Matjiesfontein, Sivewright was not averse to public displays of wealth and became very much a socialite on the colonial scene. In 1893, a visiting journalist reported how: “He [Sivewright] is the husband of a charming lady, and she is as interesting and popular in the Colony as he is. Sir James is full of energy, enthusiasm, pluck and Scottish humour; he is an eloquent and earnest worker for the unity of South Africa. With equal ease he can recite Burns’ “Tam O’ Shanter” and can address a mass meeting of Boers in their own language” (cited in ibid). Sivewright was colloquially referred to as the ‘Laird of Lourensford’ - a title he revelled in! Read all about this cunning Scotsman in ‘Empire, War and Cricket in South Africa’ by Dean Allen.

www.deanallen.co.za
May have mentioned it before, but Dean Allen lives in the same development as my ZA apartment and I can definitely recommend his book.
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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#402 Post by OFSO » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:30 pm

I am currently rereading one of Mick Herron's excellent "Slow Horses" espionage novels in which the concealed passing of information takes place in a Viennese restaurant on the Marylebone High Street. Several pages are devoted to setting the scene but that's no mention of the Ops Normal lunch which was taking there, probably on the same day, although at a slightly later time. Capetonian would have been amused.

See below...

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#403 Post by OFSO » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:39 pm

IMG-20181214-WA0008.jpg

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#404 Post by Hydromet » Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:35 pm

OFSO wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:30 pm
I am currently rereading one of Mick Herron's excellent "Slow Horses" espionage novels in which the concealed passing of information takes place in a Viennese restaurant on the Marylebone High Street. Several pages are devoted to setting the scene but that's no mention of the Ops Normal lunch which was taking there, probably on the same day, although at a slightly later time. Capetonian would have been amused.

See below...
Did they make any mention of side boob? I'm sure there must have been some.

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#405 Post by OFSO » Wed Apr 06, 2022 4:06 am

Not in Fischer's Restaurant there aren't.

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#406 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 06, 2022 4:20 am

OFSO wrote:
Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:30 pm
I am currently rereading one of Mick Herron's excellent "Slow Horses" espionage novels in which the concealed passing of information takes place in a Viennese restaurant on the Marylebone High Street. Several pages are devoted to setting the scene but that's no mention of the Ops Normal lunch which was taking there, probably on the same day, although at a slightly later time. Capetonian would have been amused.

See below...
I was prompted by all those Viennese capers, and clandestine lunch time assignations, over a fine Wiener schnitzel and a glass of white wine, to reach for a page turner, preferably something by the pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, but then I remembered that he himself was fictional, and was one of the dramatis personae in Graham Greene's classic screenplay for the film 'The Third Man'.

This immortal dialogue sums it up well...
"I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better. Still, old Vienna retains its charm."
I haven't read anything by Greene recently, actually not a damned thing in twenty years, so I am moved to reread 'Our Man In Havana' and might even bunk off this afternoon to watch Alec Guinness in that other Carol Reed classic, redolent as it is, also, of espionage and clandestine absurdity.

For things noir, dark and yet some of the old Vienna tastefully done in the heart of London, as well, you can't beat a good restaurant. Just a pity that Lime himself couldn't join us... ;)))



RIP Capetonian...
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#407 Post by G~Man » Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:08 pm

Just finished reading, (well listening to---I can do it while driving or flying cross country flights), this book.....HIGHLY interesting and has aviation overtones. See HERE FOR AN OVERVIEW

.
71CwWiCJhuL-319x479.jpg
71CwWiCJhuL-319x479.jpg (26.07 KiB) Viewed 560 times
B-) Life may not be the party you hoped for, but while you're here, you may as well dance. B-)

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#408 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:27 pm

Thanks G~Man.
It is on my list.
I have to finish "The Only Plane in the Sky" by Garrett M. Graff. The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001—a panoramic narrative woven from the voices of Americans on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma.
Good but depressing.

PP

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#409 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:27 pm

TheGreenGoblin wrote:
Wed Apr 06, 2022 4:20 am

I haven't read anything by Greene recently, actually not a damned thing in twenty years, so I am moved to reread 'Our Man In Havana' and might even bunk off this afternoon to watch Alec Guinness in that other Carol Reed classic, redolent as it is, also, of espionage and clandestine absurdity.
Actually watched half of it tonight until the family cack running around me forced me to deal with reality! God how I hate that!

It is a great novel and a brilliant film (anything with Alec Guinness in it is bound to be good anyway).

Inn't mate... =))
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#410 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:28 am

While out on a jaunt to Duxford recently I decided to take out annual IWM membership and thus encouraged by the 10% discount, purchased Cecil Lewis's 'Pathfinders' novel. I am generally not a fan of novels, but am a huge fan of Cecil Lewis's work since an English ex-girlfriend purchased 'Gemini to Joburg', for me, the true account of his flight from England to South Africa in a Miles Gemini, accompanied by his much younger, and attractive wife, to join a mystic's commune in 1947!

As you would imagine, given his great literary skill and aviation knowledge, the 'Pathfinders' novel is also really well worth reading.

Good review of Pathfinders to be found here - Pathfinders

Lewis clearly had a way with women, and his description, in 'Gemini to Joburg', of his charming companion darning her bra, only to notice an RAF crew in an Avro Anson formating on their aircraft, while they flew alongside the pyramids, is most memorable!
A (Miles) Gemini is a stylish, twin-engine, four-seater wooden airplane; Joburg is Johannesburg; and this quirky, engaging narrative relives a 1947 flight from England to South Africa, a picturesque 6,000-mile pleasure trip that was also a doomed missionary journey. Lewis (b. 1898) has had a long and lively career: a pilot in both World Wars, a flying instructor in China, one of the founders of the B.B.C., a television executive, and the author of at least one minor classic, Sagittarius Rising (1936). But he was also, improbably enough, a devoted disciple of Gurdjieff, and the official purpose for going to ""Joburg"" was to reconnoiter a site for a refugee colony of the Master's followers, who were anticipating an imminent cataclysm in the Old World. Lewis, his wife Olga, and others eventually managed to establish the colony, called Donkerhoek, on the High Veld; but it soon foundered, not least because, to everyone's surprise Gurdjieff was discovered to be alive (though not well) and living in Paris. It was too early for the Diaspora to begin. At any rate, the flight was a lovely one, proceeding in sometimes leisurely, sometimes tricky and heart-pounding, jumps from Reading to Paris to Nice to Milan to Athens to Tobruk to Cairo to Wadi Halfa (Sudan) to Khartoum to Juba to Nairobi to Kasama to Salisbury to Johannesburg. Lewis has something of Saint-Exupery's lyrical vision, his love of the natural world beneath his wings, his sense of the pilot as a highly vulnerable demigod--a feeling sharpened by the fact that the Lewises were flying practically without instruments and, in Africa, with the sketchiest of maps. Lewis is given to eccentric, religio-scientific musings, a la Immanuel Velikovsky and Hans Hoerbringer, but his hearty joie de vivre, warmly nostalgic but never sentimental, keeps him right on course. An unusual, rewarding memoir.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-revi ... to-joburg/
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#411 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:09 pm

Being in a somewhat "whimsical" pre Easter bank holiday mood, I was apt to follow my sister's advice and read some more of author and poet Paul Bailey's work. One of his poems is noted here...
Nocturnal

I knew a man once who wished he hadn’t been born.
He meant what he said.
He wasn’t a poseur.
In the few, radiant years I knew him
He never spoke for effect.

He said what he meant, I remember,
quietly, thoughtfully,
over tea and scrambled eggs on toast
on one of those perfect mornings
that always follows
a night of rapture.

He had the bright way of speaking
of those in the deepest despair.
He made himself a joy to be with.
He saw the funny side of almost everything.

I knew he had meant what he said
when he departed decorously
with sleeping pills and vodka.
No noose, no razor blades, no blood in the bath,
And nothing so wickedly inconsiderate
as a sudden plunge under an oncoming train –
he valued understatement.

I shan’t reveal his name.
He wouldn’t have wanted me to.
He really did prefer oblivion.
It was his chosen habitat.
from Joie de Vivre
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#412 Post by Boac » Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:23 pm

on April 9th, tango15 wrote:A certain person on this forum asked me to send them a copy of my book, which I was happy to do. I sent it off nine months ago. A polite reminder regarding payment a few months ago has still not elicited any result, so sometimes those who do not appear to work to established norms are closer to home than we might care to think...
Did we ever establish who the shyster was?

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#413 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:31 pm

Boac wrote:
Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:23 pm
on April 9th, tango15 wrote:A certain person on this forum asked me to send them a copy of my book, which I was happy to do. I sent it off nine months ago. A polite reminder regarding payment a few months ago has still not elicited any result, so sometimes those who do not appear to work to established norms are closer to home than we might care to think...
Did we ever establish who the shyster was?

I highly recommend tango15's book, which I am happy to report I bought on Amazon some time back! ;)))

Perhaps the perfidious "defaulter" is a slow reader! =))
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#414 Post by fin » Thu Apr 14, 2022 3:58 pm

PHXPhlyer wrote:
Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:34 pm
Just finished "The Apollo Murders" by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
A good read of historical fiction with technical aspects that are reality based.
Just started "Black ops : the life of a CIA shadow warrior" by Ric Prado.

"A memoir by the highest-ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars that America has fought since the Vietnam Era. Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric's legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism. Operating in the shadows, Ric and his fellow CIA officers fought a little-seen and virtually unknown war to keep USA safe from those who would do it harm. After duty stations in Central and South America, and the Philippines, Black Ops follows Ric into the highest echelons of the CIA's headquarters at Langley, Virginia. In late 1995, he became Deputy Chief of Station and co-founding member of the Bin Laden Task Force. Three years later, after serving as head of Korean Operations, Ric took on one of the most dangerous missions of his career: re-establish a once-abandoned CIA station inside a hostile nation long since considered a front line in the fight against Islamic terrorism. He and his team carried out covert operations and developed assets that proved pivotal in the coming War on Terror. A harrowing memoir of life in the shadowy world of assassins, terrorists, spies and revolutionaries, Black Ops is a testament to the courage, creativity and dedication of the Agency's Special Activities Group and its elite shadow warriors."-- Provided by publisher.

PP
Nearing end of this book. Curious as to whether the copy you read was highly censored. The last half of the book contained some pages that were nearly entirely blacked out, as were some chapter headings.
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#415 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Apr 14, 2022 4:11 pm

Fin:

Yes.
The hardback from the library was redacted in places.

PP

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#416 Post by fin » Fri Apr 15, 2022 3:34 am

Thanks, pp
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#417 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sat Apr 16, 2022 3:20 am

Just finished The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. :YMAPPLAUSE:
As good as all the rest of his works. :-bd

PP

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#418 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Apr 28, 2022 8:06 pm

Just finished "Gong Solo" by Roald Dahl. :-bd
I guess I'll have to read "Boy" and some of his well known fictions as well. :-?
Still struggling through Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".
I'm glad it is not "The Comprehensive History of Time". :))

PP

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#419 Post by Opsboi » Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:26 pm

PHXPhlyer wrote:
Thu Apr 28, 2022 8:06 pm
Just finished "Gong Solo" by Roald Dahl. :-bd
Not for me

Drum solos were bad enough back in the day, but a gong?

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Re: What book are you currently reading?

#420 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:51 pm

:-o (i) #-o

PP

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